


when it gets too much

by aintitnifty



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Basketball Idiots In Love, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-02
Updated: 2014-01-02
Packaged: 2018-01-07 05:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1115932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintitnifty/pseuds/aintitnifty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s something unspoken humming through the silence, something that Kuroko has felt for months but never had the courage to speak aloud.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when it gets too much

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted hurt!Kagami and it turned into a fluff-ish get-together fic, as is the kagakuro way.
> 
> Sigh.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> *
> 
> Title taken from "Beside You" by Marianas Trench.

Kuroko isn’t sure what he expects to see when he bursts into the small infirmary, but he is convinced it won’t be good. His mind won’t stop replaying the images of Kagami falling, of Kagami lying motionless on the polished court, of Kagami bleeding, terribly still and eyes closed and _bleeding_ —

“Kuroko?”

Kuroko blinks away his blurred vision and swipes one hand hastily across his eyes, trying to focus on the large figure struggling into a sitting position on the room’s single cot.

“K-Kagami-kun?” he says, keeping his voice low.

“What are you doing here?” Kagami asks. There is a dark, gleaming bruise on his cheekbone where he took an elbow to the face and there are bandages wrapped around his head, but his eyes are clear and concerned when they meet Kuroko’s, and Kuroko thinks he may faint from relief. “Aren’t you supposed to be playing right now?”

“Coach subbed me out for the last five minutes,” Kuroko said, glancing sheepishly down at his feet. “She said my head wasn’t in the game.”

“But—”

“We’re leading,” Kuroko says hurriedly, looking up again. “By a lot. The others…” Kuroko pauses, brows contracting. “All of us. We weren’t pleased by what happened to you. So we’re winning this game for you.”

Kagami lowers himself back down onto the cot with a sigh.

“It was just an accident,” he mutters. “It happens in basketball. You should know that.”

“You weren’t moving,” Kuroko says, his hands curling into fists at his sides. He feels that this is a very important point to make, since it was Kagami’s stillness that made Kuroko’s heart race and his breathing halt.

Kagami shrugs, wincing as he does so. “I was just knocked out for a bit. No big deal. It wasn’t even twenty seconds.”

“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko repeats, his voice firmer. “You _weren’t. Moving._ ”

Kagami goes quiet, staring at the ceiling.

“You shouldn’t have left the game, dumbass,” he says after a long moment of silence.

“Our senpai will take care of it,” Kuroko says. Kagami hums deep in his throat and lifts a hand to scratch at the bandages wrapped around his forehead.

“Coach’ll probably make us run extra laps for this, won’t she?” he says with a smirk, glancing sidelong at Kuroko.

Kuroko smiles a little for the first time since Kagami fell, and Kagami lets out a small huff of laughter, turning his gaze back to the speckled tiles in the ceiling. Silence descends again, but this time it’s comfortable. It’s the silence that descends when they’re sitting across from each other in Maji Burger, both looking out the window at the dark sky beyond. It’s the silence that descends when they walk alongside each other on their way home from practice, comfortable enough in one another’s presence that there’s no need for unnecessary small talk.

But this time… this time there’s something different.

There’s something unspoken humming through the silence now, something that Kuroko has felt for months but never had the courage to speak aloud. It’s similar to how he felt standing on the roof last year, preparing to declare to the entire school his ultimate goal. He feels like he’s on a precipice, preparing to gamble everything on one step, preparing to either jump or fall.

“It’s no good,” Kagami says into the silence, and Kuroko blinks.

“What’s no good?”

“This.” Kagami waves a hand in the air between them. “We’re too… I don’t know, dependent on each other, I suppose. It’s no good.” He glances briefly at Kuroko, then back to the ceiling, his jaw clenched. “You shouldn’t have left the game,” he says again.

Kuroko feels his fingernails dig deeply into the skin of his palms. His face goes warm, his throat tight.

“And what if it were me who’d been injured instead of you?” he asks. “What if I were down here in the infirmary all alone after losing consciousness for fifteen seconds?”

Kagami’s gaze never leaves the ceiling tiles. “I’d keep playing,” he says. “And I’d give the other team hell for you. I wouldn’t just ditch my other teammates to sit with you. Not if I knew you were okay.”

“And how was I supposed to know you were okay?” Kuroko says sharply. “You were barely awake when they carried you off the court.”

“I _told_ you I was okay, I said—”

“You slurred something at me, yes,” Kuroko says. “But that doesn’t mean you were okay.”

Kagami grits his teeth and Kuroko can see that his hands are curled into fists, too, pressed flush against the cot.

“My point still stands,” Kagami says, but now he doesn’t sound quite as certain. “I’d keep playing. I wouldn’t abandon my team.”

“Is that all I am to you?” Kuroko says, barely thinking at this point, he’s so frustrated. He can feel the precipice getting closer, can sense the unseen chasm growing wider. _It’s time to jump_ , a little voice urges, so he takes a deep breath and continues: “Am I only a teammate to you?”

Kagami doesn’t reply for what feels like a very long time. If Kuroko listens hard, he thinks he can hear the buzzer far above them, can hear the cheers of the crowd and the squeaking and thumping of sneakers on hardwood. Kuroko tries not to fidget. Part of him wants to flee.

Finally, Kagami slowly turns his head to look at him. He is frowning slightly, the corners of his mouth turned down.

But he says, “No,” and Kuroko practically sags with relief.

“Kagami-kun,” he says, rather breathless, “may I…?”

Kagami wordlessly holds out a hand and Kuroko—heart skipping—goes to his side and grasps it tightly, slumping onto the little stool beside the cot. He finds it suddenly hard to meet Kagami’s eyes and instead fixes his gaze on their entwined hands. Kagami’s thumb sweeps a gentle path over Kuroko’s knuckles.

Kuroko tightens his grip, then takes another deep breath and says, “I was afraid tha—”

“I’m fine, Kuroko.”

“Yes, but—”

“Kuroko.” Kagami’s voice is firm, but not unkind. Kuroko feels the cot shift as Kagami sits up, and then a warm hand settles on his head, long fingers threading gently through his hair. “I’m fine. I promise.”

Kuroko says nothing. He leans in until his forehead bumps Kagami’s shoulder and only then does he untangle his hand from Kagami’s in order to fist one hand into the back of Kagami’s shirt, the other into the fabric just above Kagami’s heart. Kuroko closes his eyes and breathes, drinking in the solid warmth of Kagami’s body, the familiar scent of sweat and deodorant.

 _I thought I’d lost you_ , is what he wants to say. _You weren’t moving. I thought this injury would take you away from me._

Instead he sighs into Kagami’s sleeve and stays quiet, his stomach fluttery and strange because of Kagami’s hand in his hair. He can feel the tears bubbling up again, thickening his throat and burning his eyes, and he buries his face deeper in Kagami’s sleeve to hide them. But then his shoulders start to shake, and he lets out a little gasp, and he knows there’s no more hiding.

“It’s okay,” Kagami says, his voice soft, and then he shifts and strong, warm arms wrap around Kuroko, pulling him close. “I’m fine. I’m here.”

Kuroko doesn’t know how long they sit like that, wrapped up in silence, or for how long he cries. He remembers hearing the buzzer up above, the roar of the crowd as someone— _Seirin_ , he thinks at the time, vaguely, hopefully, _it has to be Seirin_ —wins the game, but it isn’t until he hears footsteps in the long hallway leading to the infirmary that he lets go of Kagami, after a soft whisper and nudge from Kagami himself.

“Kagami-kun, Kuroko-kun!” Riko bursts into the room, grinning widely, followed by a sweat-drenched and equally beaming Kiyoshi. “We won!”

"That's great!" Kagami says, his entire face lighting up.

“We sure missed you out there, though,” Kiyoshi says. “Both of you,” he adds with a nod in Kuroko’s direction, but his smile does not falter and his eyes are sympathetic.

Kagami squeezes Kuroko’s hand, out of sight, and Kuroko feels some of his guilt melt away. “I’m glad you managed to beat those assholes,” Kagami says. “They needed it.”

“So how are you feeling?” Riko asks, pointedly ignoring the “assholes” comment, which Kuroko knows she would normally condemn. He smiles; apparently Seirin’s players aren't the only ones holding a grudge against the team that injured their ace. “Do you think you can walk?” Riko asks. She jerks a thumb at Kiyoshi. “I brought Teppei along just in case you needed some help getting to the hospital.”

“I’m fine,” Kagami says. “Why do I have to go to the hospital?”

“Standard procedure. We have to get you checked by a professional before you can be allowed to play.”

“That’s ridiculous, I’m completely fine,” Kagami says, scowling.

“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko says quietly, firmly, squeezing Kagami’s fingers. Kagami glances at him, then sighs, his cheeks going pink.

“Fine,” he says. “But I don’t need help walking, I’m not a freaking invalid. We’ll meet you guys in the hallway in a minute, okay?”

“Okay,” Riko says, looking rather confused, but Kiyoshi just takes her by the shoulder and steers her out the door, winking at Kuroko over his shoulder as he pulls the door shut behind him.

“Kuroko.”

Kuroko turns to look at Kagami, but a gentle hand catches his chin and suddenly there are lips covering his, dry and warm and firm. The kiss lasts only moments—Kuroko doesn’t even have time to close his eyes—and then Kagami pulls back and squeezes Kuroko’s hand, slides off the cot, and starts to walk toward the door, towing Kuroko along behind him.

Kuroko follows in a daze, his lips tingling.

“Kagami-kun,” he says, just as Kagami reaches for the door handle.

Kagami freezes but doesn’t turn. “Yeah?”

“Does this mean we’re dating?”

Kagami’s shoulders stiffen. “You really have to ask?” he mutters, almost too low for Kuroko to hear, but then he says, “Yes, it does,” and really, that’s all Kuroko needs to know.


End file.
